Divine Distortion
by E.R. Burke
Summary: Yami was defeated, but the Oina are still reeling from the affects of the darkness when they are struck by tragedy and start to grow jealous of a neighboring Tribe. The darkness is not gone... Oc's, but no OcXRealCharacter pairings
1. Chapter 1

The white snowflakes cascaded downward, burying the village of Wep'keer in their merciless cold. It was a discouraging thing to see. Everybody had believed the weather would improve after the sun goddess, Amaterasu, had vanquished the Lord of Darkness. Yet, though for a while things had indeed gotten better, the blizzards' onslaught had come to rear its ugly face again. The Oina Tribe had fallen into hard times.

Not the slightest vegetation had grown in the Ezofuji Mountains, even after Nechku and Lechku were annihilated. No plants meant that there was no food for herb-eating animals. The rabbits and deer had died off by an astounding number. Without these animals, carnivores were left hungry and weak. In turn, the Oina were quickly running out of food. Chief Samickle watched desolately as their hunting grounds worsened day by day.

Their luck had run out, it seemed. For, as they were slowly sinking into starvation, even the youngest could see that on the other side of the mountains their alleged Sister-Tribe was flourishing. The Yama Tribe, long avoided by their wolf-like neighbors, had bountiful food and grand hunting grounds that, at the very least, was blessed with some sparse vegetation.

Such jealously was a breeding ground for further hatred. And Oki, the brave warrior who dared to take on the sacred mountain's demons, was no exception to that rule.

How was it, he often wondered, that they managed to grow anything in their lands when in Wep'keer, the Oina were suffering? It seemed unjust that a clan of lazy, temperamental creatures as the Yama were better off than the Oina, who worked hard just to keep moving each day.

Oki also started to notice the discreet happenings hiding right in front of him. With so little food, there were those who were willing to sacrifice, though what they had was already too little. Kai ate less, making sure that her younger sister got enough to sustain her strength. It was a sad thing to see, being that Kai never complained of the matters. She still believed things would get better. However, it was the chief's actions that worried the warrior most. Samickle had nearly stopped eating altogether. Trying to help, Oki attempted to do the same. Unfortunately, Samickle caught him, and a good hide-tanning from both him and Elder Kemu followed.

It was a few days after his punishment that Oki confronted his friend about a solution. He caught the corner of the leader's eye. "We should try hunting farther to the west. From higher up it's easy to see the animals there."

But the man just shook his head, gaze unmoved. "It's not our land."

"But-!"

"No, Oki." His tone suddenly grew harsh and angry, even by the normal standards. "Our treaty with the Yama Tribe shows exactly where the neutral territory ends, and we already reach to the edge of it."

"They never patrol out that far! Maybe just once we could get away with it!"

"No!" Oki was almost taken aback by the resentment in Samickle's voice. "I will not stoop down to that level! If we've only one thing left, let it be honor!" Without another word, the man walked off, soon disappearing in the vision-killing snow.

The warrior growled to himself, bitter. The Yama must be very selfish, he thought, to not even allow a few Oina hunters on their copious hunting grounds.

If honor meant sitting back and watching his Tribe die, Oki was not interested.

----------

"Snow, snowing, snowing~!" The little boy's sing-song voice wrapped around his sister's patience, slowly strangling it. "It's snowing again~! Snowing, snowing, snowing~! It's cold outside and it's snowing~! Adventuring while it's snowing is fun~!"

"UGH!!" She growled at that interval, blonde hair whipping her in the face. A scowl protruded her cracked, bloody lips. "Stop singing! Stop it stop it stop it!! I can't stand any more of this!"

The boy, who was far younger than the angry girl trudging along behind him, just smiled brightly. "But it's fun to be adventuring, sis! Out in the wilderness, away from home, nothing but us and fighting monsters and-"

"No! No way! There will be absolutely no monster fighting in this little _expedition_!"

"- with no adults to give us stupid chores or yell at us for anything!"

"…" She put a finger to her chin, considering this point. "Well, I suppose that _is_ a good thing. But still! No monster fighting!"

"Aw… but I wanna battle demons!" He spastically punched the frigid air in front of him. "I could be the hero!"

"… _Yeah_… Good luck with that, buddy."

He pouted and turned around, blue eyes beckoning for her full attention. "Rin, you're no fun at all!"

She staggered the next few steps, appalled. "I am too! I do lots of fun things! Like I… I… Um… I get to chase those stupid bunnies all the time!"

"That's lame," the boy jested. "You only have fun when you're on adventures with me!"

"YOU ALMOST ALWAYS GET US INTO TROUBLE!!" She folded her arms and bared her sharp teeth. "I wonder why I even agree to come sometimes! Last time I got caught sliding down the mountain on a block of ice going a bagillion times faster than you could ever run! I could have died, you little whelp!"

"I'm not a whelp! You're the whelp!"

"No, you're the whelp!"

"Am not!"

"Am too!"

"You're im-ma-ture!"

"I'm immature?! You're a little kid!"

"Four eyes!"

"Oh! You did _NOT_ just make fun of my goggles!"

The senseless, victory-free argument continued as the two waded farther into the snow. The peaks were almost silent apart from their bickering. But, the sound of a low rumble was a sign that peace was nowhere in the white lands of Kamui that night.

-------

A greedy smile passed over the lips of the dark-furred wolf. Kai, looking nervous, crouched down in the snow next to her companion. The lost deer just ahead of would indeed be a fine catch, but she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. After all, the two of them were pilfering from the neighbors. "I don't think we should do this," she whispered.

"Come on, Kai! You want Lika and everybody to have food don't you?"

"Well, yes but…"

"So, it's worth bending the rules just a little bit!" He stalked closer to the unsuspecting prey. It didn't even notice enough to flick its ear at them. But, then again, the wind was so deafening that neither wolf could hear much either.

They were oblivious to that same low grumble protruding from the very ground beneath them…

-----

The two children looked upwards; there wasn't a star to be seen. It was well past sunset, and still the snow wouldn't sleep. The wind was just beginning to weaken, But not by an impressive margin.

There didn't need to be any less wind for the two siblings to hear the noise that echoed off of Ezofuji. A screech, terrifying and gruesome, bounded off of the peaks. It momentarily shattered the very sanity of those that met it.

"What was that?!" The boy spun around in confusion, trying to pinpoint the origin of the sound. His sister was already ahead of him.

"It sounded like trouble to me," she muttered while facing the Ezofuji Pass. "I don't want to meet the monster who did that."

"But sis! We have to! What if something amazing is over there!"

She frowned and looked at the boy's innocent face, She knew exactly what he spoke of. "It's in the Pass… whatever it is. I don't want to travel that way."

The neutral territory between Oina and Yama had always been a bit hazardous, which eventually led to the Yama pulling out from that area completely. It seemed that the wolves liked their new space, anyway. It was even a rumor that anybody who wandered into the Oina land was savagely attacked- though it was never proven as either demon or warrior. Though claimed as _neutral_, it was a dangerous place to explore.

However, the pleading in the child's eyes forced his sister's hand. "Fine," she scowled. "But it needs to be quick! The last thing we need is to be chased by a pack of angry Oina hunters!"

"Yes," he cheered with a fist pumped in the air. He then crouched low to the ground, like his traveling partner, and shifted shapes in a puff of feathery material. Where they once stood there were two formidable-looking wildcats. The heavy supply-pack that the sister hauled remained on the slightly larger beast.

She bared her teeth and let out a growl. "I smell demon already," she excitedly cooed. They scampered off across the snow, fleet-footed and confident. "In the name of our tribe, I'll kill the beast if it comes close enough!"

The brother smiled at his sister's sudden change of attitude.

-----

Kai threw herself at Kemu's door forcing it open as she tumbled inside. She was hyperventilating, tears welling in her eyes. Samickle and Kemu were both quick to take notice of the panicked girl. She breathlessly did her best to speak up. "It's Oki! He's… he and I went out into the eastern side of the mountains and-"

But Samickle needed no more explanation. He knew very well what lied on their borders. No listening to what remained of the girl's explanation, he was already turned to a beast-form and charging out the door, barreling towards the entrance to Ezofuji Pass. Kai knew he'd need help, and was soon following her leader into the storm.

-----

Somehow, the weather had gotten worse. It was something that the Yama children quickly noticed. It had taken a long time, perhaps an hour, to get even the right spot, and it was still considered close to Yama territories. The area of the pass where Rin was completely certain the scream emanated from was coated in an ink-black liquid. She sniffed it, curiously. "It's monster blood," she smiled. Most of her many, sharp teeth glinted in the sparse moonlight that shown through the snow-clouded sky. The younger of the duo turned around, scratching at the snow.

"Woah!" He jumped. "It- it's a finger!" Sure enough a giant finger, cleanly cleaved from its demon owner, was laying in the ice. "Sis, it's a finger!"

She rolled her eyes. "So I heard." Her eyes and nose pulled her in the direction of a very differently colored liquid. She suddenly felt her heart sink into her stomach and the excitement of her hunting instincts fell away. "Su! Get searching the area! Somebody else was out here, and they left behind a lot of blood!"

The brother didn't seem to move. When Rin heard nothing from him, she was about to turn around and yell. But, she then saw what he was staring at, and also felt the need to be in silent stillness. "Dear lords of the Sky," she whispered in awe. She pawed the ground for just a moment in anticipation before carefully approaching the shallow cavern. Scarlet blood was starting to pool on the stone, leaking out into the snow where it left a deep stain. The wildcat seemed to pay no heed to the foreign blood that was tainting the pads of her feet; demon and human alike. Her brother closed in on her, fearful of whatever being might leap out at them.

On the rocky ground, fallen in his own blood, was a battered Oina warrior. Rin could hear him breathing, though fighting for the air. A pile of smoking junk on the floor next to him was the remains of a pitiful flame. There was no more warmth where the injured had taken cover. His arms were covered in the demon blood, and a few dots of it spattered across his face.

The cat nudged him, jumping back in shock when the mask fell right off of him. It revealed an expression twisted with agony and fear. The girl stood on two legs, and her furry feet were soon replaced by animal-skin boots. Her ungloved hands traced the warrior's side- the source of blood. Other than a single, unconscious flinch of pain, it seemed that he was unaware of everything around him. His flesh was cold like the rocks he was sprawled out on.

* * *

I hope you liked the first chapter! Reviews are appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

He was gone. Samickle paced the cave again. Kai frantically tried to recall everything that had happened. Oki was gone. The boy's blood was still there. His scent was there. Even his weapon was there. But, Oki was gone. Samickle could feel the freezing winds beating down on them.

Oki's sword was heavy in the chief's hands. The boy had gone through a lot of trouble to get it, and Samickle knew it as well as anybody. After surrendering Kutone to its pedestal, he'd done plenty of errands outside of Wep'keer to earn the money for it. It was a reminder to the chief, of what sort of person Oki was. And so he felt a swell of guilt inside of him. Samickle should have known better than to assume Oki would follow orders just because he was told to.

Kai sniffed. She rubbed her eyes ferociously. The girl questioned why she'd been foolish enough to let Oki go. And, she was even more disappointed in herself that she'd left him alone. Kai fought her tears, only barely winning. She wondered to herself, where could he have gone? He couldn't possibly have moved on his own! Somebody had taken him, this much she could assume. However, she couldn't muster a guess as to who. Her mind and emotional state were both in turmoil.

Samickle could do nothing more. Oki had disappeared without so much as a bloody path etched into the ground. There was no trail for them to follow. He lightly shoved the girl outside. "We'll search tomorrow," he promised her. "But for now we must return to the village."

She nodded, but it was painfully clear that she didn't want to give up. When she was gone, Samickle took a deep breath. When he became chief, the man never suspected he'd have to contend with this sort of problem. Before he too let go of believing he'd ever see the boy again, his eyes stopped on a single, incriminating footprint in the blood. It was distressingly familiar.

He hissed to himself. "Lynx… The Yama had a hand in this."

-----------

"Now look at what you did! You brought one back! Fool!" There was a raspy voice crawling up and down the room. One could only assume is belonged to an old woman. "I told you! I told you! No more stupid creatures getting dragged back here, or else! I'll make sure you father has your head for this, you impish brat!!" And she was a very angry old woman at that.

A loud snort emanated from the opposing side. "Aw, stow it, you hag!" A metallic clanging, followed by a loud sigh clouded the atmosphere. "It could be worse," this new, young female voice muttered happily.

"And how exactly is that?!"

"I could've dumped him on your floor, and then left to get myself sake!" She chuckled rottenly. "And I wouldn't have saved you any either."

The old woman growled. Her footsteps echoed across wood and slowly moved farther away.

Oki stated to focus in on the incessant tapping noise next to his right ear. He lay still for a long time, trying to figure out what it was. At last, he picked it out as the sound of fingers drumming against wood. There was a tune set in the bothersome noise, but not one that he recognized. The sound was frustrating; Oki was starting to develop a headache. He groaned a little, almost believing that it would drown out the tapping.

Instead, it abruptly stopped. The young girl, the one he had heard before, cleared her throat. "Sorry. Everybody says it's annoying, but I can never seem to stop." Hearing somebody talk to him, Oki was a little startled; more so than he was comforted. He attempted to sit up.

The warrior didn't move but an inch before he felt a hand on his forehead press him back down. He grumbled and frowned. One of his eyes finally decided to flick open as well.

"Don't be stupid." Her tone was calm, but not completely friendly. Something about it was unsettling. "You move now, and all of those stitches will come undone. The last thing you need is old-lady Mura out to get you."

His vision adjusted. Towering above him was a blonde girl. She nonchalantly balanced a heavy tome in one hand, the other still weighing him down. He betrayed his own bravery, gulping at the sight of the foreigner.

And she snorted at his gesture. It was like cynical laughter. A rotten grin passed over her face. "Oh please. An Oina warrior afraid of me? How very ironic."

"What… where…" Oki wasn't quite able to piece together what he wanted to say. All of his thoughts were jumbled and hard to grasp.

She tilted her head to one side, not really making eye contact. "You tell me. My brother and I happened to find you out in the snow. As for 'where', you're in our village, Polata."

"… The Yama village?"

She sarcastically retorted. "_No_. _It's a town built by magical fairies_."

Upon realizing that he was in the belly of a camp he deemed enemy, Oki reached to his side. His hand groped around the hilt without finding a sword. The warrior shot an accusing glare at the girl.

It was only then that he noticed the strange thing around her eyes. It was like she had woven together the ends of shallow, glass bowls and tied them about her head. They looked nonsensical, if not a bit painful. But she just smiled idly. "Yeah, I know. I'm weird looking."

"What… are you?"

She seemed confused. The girl turned her head to the area ahead of her and shouted loudly. "Hey! Old woman! I think he whacked his head too!!"

"Tell him to walk it off!! I'm busy!!"

The Yama girl shook her fist in the old woman's general direction. "Ever consider actually doing your job, hag?!"

"Hah! This coming from a no good slacker like you!"

She just snorted in response. "Whatever. So, you're an Oina?" She finally gave him face-to-face attention, but her eyes seemed just as disinterested as always, even behind the strange mask. "Hm… I always expected something a bit scarier. You really aren't threatening at all, you know."

Oki scowled. "The Yama Tribe seems far more dysfunctional than rumored."

"Boy, you don't know the half of it." A shattering sound in the background made him jump a little bit. "What was that?! Kill yourself you, Mura?!"

"You wish, you spoiled brat!!" Something flew through the air, headed right for the blond. She screamed when it made contact with her eyes. It was a cloth, soaked in something foul. Just smelling it made Oki's eyes burn.

"ARE YOU INSANE?! Hag, if I weren't wearing eye protection you'd have burned them right out of my head!!"

"So what?! Your eyes are useless anyway! Make your self useful, slacker, and clean his wounds!"

She was silent, and seemed to have a pondering expression.

"No! You aren't getting out of this!!"

"Ugh." She gave Oki a look of disdain. "Just so you know, this is going to hurt both of us." Her hands deftly wriggled the blankets off of his upper body, and then drenched it in the acid from the rag. The warrior bit down hard at the stinging sensation.

The only thing he could presume was that the Yama were out to use him, and then dispose of him. Why else would they want him alive? Why else would they be torturing him?

"Relax. I know this sucks. I've had the same thing done to me twice now." There was a glimmer of pure empathy in the way she spoke. "Don't freak out about it. It stops hurting after a couple of minutes."

"What… is it?!"

"Some weird cleaning solution or whatever. It'll keep your injuries from getting infected."

_Injuries?_ Oki thought hard. _I don't remember getting hurt._ _I don't think I remember anything before Kai and I went hunting. So what happened when…_ Slowly his memories drifted back. "Where is Kai?"

"Who?"

"Kai! She was with me when--" He sucked in air when a particularly bad sting caught him in the side.

"… There was nobody else with you. You were just out there hidden in a little cave."

"No! She must have been there too!" He wanted to get up, to leave and find Kai. But no matter how hard he beckoned, his legs would not oblige. They shook furiously; all of the muscles were numb and exhausted.

"Relax, wolf-boy. You don't do anybody any good if you're dead. I won't be able to get you back to your land _at all _if the warriors think you're too weak."

He glimpsed at her. "I need to find her."

"Yeah? Well, I hate to break it to you, but nobody else was there. My brother even took some trackers back to the Pass with him. It was just you. If she was with you, she walked off."

"She wouldn't have left!"

"If that's the case, the border demons hauled her off and she's dead. Either way, you can't do anything about it."

"… I'm not going to lay here if she's in trouble."

"_Oh really_?" The girl stood up and crossed her arms. "Then by all means, go look for her."

Oki knew that he couldn't.

All of the willpower in his body wanted to, but he couldn't move. The struggle on his face was easy enough for the Yama girl to read. "Being rock-stubborn like that will not get you anywhere. You're either going to cooperate for a little while, during which you get patched up; or you don't cooperate, and somebody kills you."

He snarled. "You think for a minute that you could kill me?"

She made a peculiar noise, much like chirping, and leered at him. "_I _wouldn't kill you. But every warrior in this village has something to prove, and they'd love for me to leave, just for a minute, so they could get rid of you and make your head a trophy for their collection."

"What makes you so special that they won't come and kill me anyway?!"

"They touch you without my 'okay', and word goes straight to the chief. And the chief," she grinned sickly, "is my father."


	3. Chapter 3

As if things weren't bad enough, the very land was willing to drown them. The Oina were left devastated. There was no food. There was no warmth. There was no glimmer of sunlight at the end of the tunnel. And now, their strongest warrior was gone - lost to the Yama Tribe.

Outrage swept through Wep'keer like a disease. Everyone was shouting and frustrated. They grabbed up their weapons, itching for a fight. Some of the more desperate souls even went so far as to curse the gods themselves. They felt like they were being roped into a curse all over again. If the only way out was slaughtering their neighboring pestilence to gain the peace they so coveted; there was hardly an Oina unwilling to take that step.

And though Chief Samickle was angry beyond anything he'd felt in the past, he was not ready to open the floodgates and start a war.

"There's no way out of this now!" Elder Kemu pounded his fist against his floor. "We need to take them out once and for all!! Those fools have had it too good for too long!!"

The chief grumbled inwardly. "Now is not the time to be fighting with the Yama Tribe. First, we need to talk to them and understand what's causing them to act this way."

"To hell with that! We need to get rid of them and get rid of them now!"

The issue was tearing apart the very village. In another house in the village, Kai was beside herself with guilt. Little Lika tried to console her sister, saying that things would turn out fine and that Oki would come and save them. But it was not a job for the second-born to coax the first. The mere mention of the warrior's name was enough to bring Kai to tears. For, in her mind, it was her fault that Oki was gone, and that the village was falling into madness, and precious lives were at risk. War so soon after Lechku and Nechku's reign would be suicide.

And nobody even cared.

--------

Oki was beside himself. It was dark outside now. He couldn't leave, or even trust the female that was so devotedly staring at the entrance to the little hut he'd been stuffed into. The man couldn't bring himself to ask her anything. In his eyes, she was as good as the very demons he stood to destroy.

He'd seen some of the Yama Tribe pass in and out of the house of the healer, Madam Mura. There was nothing but contempt in their eyes. Contempt, and confusion.

Not a single one of them was adorned with that strange mask that his self-proclaimed guard wore.

She heaved a sigh. "Why would anybody be stupid enough to go on Yama land?" Oki wasn't sure if she was asking him, or herself.

"Does it matter?"

She turned back only a little bit, not making full eye contact. "If you want to live, it might."

"So the warriors are less willing to get rid of me? Your assumption seems flawed."

The girl chuckled, but it seemed sad. "I wouldn't worry about them at night. They have other… _problems_ to deal with now. But honestly," she started again, turning back around. "Why would you even consider coming here?"

"Because it was important to the village," he grumbled. "That's all you need to know."

Her blonde hair rustled as the door of the cabin opened. The head that poked in was not friendly looking. He was far older than the girl, but still he seemed young. His hair was the same brown-and-gold as the girl's. "Sister," he growled. "This is reckless and stupid!! He needs to be gone!"

She glared at him, the glass over her eyes reflecting light in a menacing way. "Go away."

"The Oina must die! If he is sacrificed, than we might be able to--"

"I SAID GET OUT, YOU SWINE-FACE BASTARD!" She hurled a glass bottle at his head, which he dodged easily. She jumped to her feet, growling like a monster.

"Fine," he spat. "But Rin, when he comes back to murder us, it's your fault!" With a swish, he was gone and the girl slowly sat down and tried to relax.

Oki stared at her for a time. It was trying, not knowing how to make her let him go. She didn't seem concerned with pain, threats, begging, or even bargaining. After all, he'd seen every warrior who came through try one or another tactic on her. All of them ended with the men getting objects tossed at their heads.

But he had another idea.

"Your name is Rin?"

Her very ears seemed to twitch in irritation. "Yes it is."

"Rin… Was that your brother? He didn't seem thrilled to have me here. If he was the one who helped you--"

"He's no brother." she hissed. "No, that moron is nothing to me. It was my younger brother who was with me."

"I see. Rin, may I ask what you're wearing? Is it a mask?"

She huffed and seemed suddenly deflated. She mumbled to herself for a moment, but it was inaudible. "I'm not going to tell _you_, Oina."

His strategy suddenly seemed more difficult than it had before. "Alright… What do you hold against the Oina Tribe?"

"Me personally? Absolutely nothing. I'm perfectly happy here, stuck on this land with all of these horrible people. There's nothing wrong with seeing things collapse to a pack mentality and all of the people around you sink into the desperate acts of killing one another when they lose their minds. I've got no problem with the Oina."

"… Come again?"

She seemed to ignore him. "But the rest of the Tribe? They hate being trapped. That's what's wrong."

Oki thought hard, but nothing was ringing a bell. "How are they trapped?"

"Have you ever read a map? Once? At all?" She paused, trying to collect her emotions a little bit. "Our land is at the edge of Kamui. Polata only borders the Oina land, and the sea. We can't pass through your territory, and we cannot got out to sea. We're all trapped here."

"I don't understand," he admitted. "Why wouldn't you be able to use the sea? And why would any of you want to leave?"

"I'll explain this, but you need to promise that when you go home, you never, ever speak of this to your leader. Understand, wolf-boy?" She span around. The serious look on her odd face showed how very much she meant for him to keep his word.

Oki nodded, his curiosity peaked.

"Very well.

"The Yama Tribe had always lived peacefully on this land, from what anybody of this generation has ever known. However, over the course of the last ten years or so, we've been attacked more times than we can count. Every few nights, demons rush down from the mountains and come after us. Slowly, we're getting weaker. Slowly, everybody is dying. We never know when they will attack.

"I remember that when I was very small, about half of the village tried to depart by sea. Their goal was to reach the capital city and beg for help. But they didn't even get out of sight before their vessel sank. Nobody speaks of it now, but I remember that there was something in the water that day. There was a shadow that swallow their ship. Nobody survived.

"We're too proud and stupid as a people to ask for help from the Oina. We can't ask for help in battle, because it's pointless. We can hold the demons back, but we can't kill them completely. Nobody will ask to leave, because we'd have to march through your land to reach Shinshu Field. Between you and me, the whole Tribe is scared of the Oina. In all of our old legends, Oina warriors are portrayed as unstoppable, merciless killers.

"So, to sum up all of it, we're stuck here, slowly being broken down by demons and praying for a miracle that's never going to come." She chuckled to herself. Perhaps she was insane. Or, more likely, she didn't care. "It all just feels like a stupid ghost-story, though."

Oki felt shame in the pit of his stomach. He realized that he blamed the Yama for something nobody had ever asked them to fix, and that they were doing the very same to his tribe. "I didn't know that."

"Good. Keep it that way." She folded her arms and legs, haughtily turning to the door and refusing to look back. "In the mean time, shut up and start getting better."

He fell silent. The warrior began to wonder if this gateway he'd found into her head, one that he originally intended to use as leverage, might be better used to help the Oina come to an agreement with its sister-tribe. "You really don't like it here, do you?"

"Is that some kind of joke?" Her voice was lower than usual in tone. "What sort of idiot would I be if I enjoyed being here? It's bad enough that I can't get away to a better place, and worse because I'm here with all of the people in the world that I hate most. You," she said pointing at him, though she never turned back. "You don't even make the list."

One of the candles lighting the room flickered out, leaving them in partial darkness. Somewhere off in the distance, Oki could hear the sound of metal and screaming. His hand instinctively reached for the blade he knew was not there. "The demons?" he asked in a whisper.

"Yes. They're attacking the southern part of the territory. They won't make it this far in tonight. So don't worry; you're safe."

"I'm not worried about myself," he snarled. "There are people out there getting hurt."

She breathed a mocking sigh and shook her head. "You're very noble. Unfortunately, that won't help anybody now. If our warriors are helpless to defeat the fiends, you don't stand a chance. Especially now, when you're injured and tired. You should just go to sleep and save me the trouble of getting lady Mura to drug you later."

Even she must have known that the idea of sleep was in vain, for she didn't seem willing to stop further conversation. "How long will it take me to heal?"

"I don't know. The old lady said it'd take somewhere between two weeks and 'who gives a damn'. But, now that I think of it, that's the time frame she gives to everybody. I wouldn't rely on it if I were you."

He smirked. "She reminds me of our Elder, Kemu. He's getting old. And the older he gets, the grouchier he seems to become. I can't recall a time when he was actually kind-hearted."

"Ha! I hear you there."

"So," he strained, rolling into another position. "What is your family like? You mentioned your brother and father."

"My brother is very kind. He's still just a kid, and he doesn't know a time when things were better. He's lucky enough to not be involved in everything yet. He'll make a great scout one day. He and I are always out exploring, so I don't go into the villages too often." She illustrated with her hands the vast range they had traveled. "And my father… I suppose he has a good heart and pure intentions, but even he can't keep everybody together in a time like this. He's so busy that I don't see him much. Mostly it's just my brother and me."

"Where is he now?"

"Sujiro is with my dad right now. I don't know for sure, but I think they were in the central village yesterday." She thought for a moment. "Sorry, you probably don't know how the territory is set up for us. There are four villages. One to the south, one to the north, one to the west, and then the main one is in the middle. That way the 'important' officials are safe and sound in the middle where they can breathe easy."

"And where are we?"

"The northern village. It's the closest to the pass, and the safest in recent days. My dad is actually somewhere around here tonight."

"You don't know where he is?"

"Nope. It's too dangerous to know where the chief is at night. We've suspected that there's a snitch for a long time. But, nobody can prove it. That's part of the reason everybody turns on each other."

Oki recalled how angry all of the warriors were with Rin, and began thinking about it. "Do they suspect you?"

"Nope. Everybody just hates me."

"… That seems illogical."

"Yep. But it's true. They all hate me for one reason, or that other reason. There's only two reasons I can think of."

"It has nothing to do with me, then?"

She laughed. "This has been going on years before now. First off, I'm the chief's daughter. I'm a little spoiled brat, and that's the bottom line there. They get jealous, or upset because I can be obnoxiously rude and say whatever I want without worrying about getting in trouble. And that, my partially-lupine companion, is the way I like it."

"So then, what's the other reason?"

She was quiet. Not a sound came from her. Not even the tapping of her fingers met the Oina warrior's ears. The sound of battle started flooding back into his mind. Everything was faint and distant. But there were distinct sounds. There were explosions, and there was screaming. The more he thought about it, the more the screaming seemed like it was fake; too far away to be heard, but still in his head. Things came to the point where Oki wasn't sure if it was really happening, or if he was stuck in his own nightmarish memories.

"I can't see very well," Rin stated out of the blue. "My eyes are usually as useless as the rest of me. And these," she said, tapping her strange headwear. "These 'goggles' help me see. A few years ago a strange traveler dropped them. He didn't want me to return them, either. They make it at least a little easier for me."

"Don't sight problems usually come with age?"

"Yeah, I guess I'm just one of the lucky 'unusual' ones. See, I grew up without good eyes. I never got to learn how to read, or how to make clothes, or really even how to cook and clean. But, as the chief's daughter I had openings other than just the life of a common-woman. It really didn't matter in the end. I couldn't learn how to fight because I couldn't see the person in front of me. You can't really hunt or track without being able to see what you're going after.

"So, I just gave up and decided to make everybody else's lives miserable." She seemed abnormally relaxed. Rin was nearly lounging on the floor.

He opened his mouth, astonished by how unbothered she was with her own decision.

"Don't look at me like that, Oina. They deserved it. There's not a single one person in the village but my brother and my father who didn't kick me when I fell down or make cracks about how 'the chief's daughter is a blind, self-centered brat'. I don't feel sorry for them."

"Why didn't you just ask them to stop?"

"Please! Are you that thick?! I'm not going to lower myself down to where they think I'm vulnerable. And, for the record, I'm _never_ vulnerable. If I wanted, I could single-handedly whip every warrior in Polata!"

"… Is that why you're always traveling with your brother, like you say? You really just want to get away from everybody."

She glared at him for a moment, her goggles shady in the darkness. "Get some rest."


End file.
